advise on litter and roosting

[joshremlin]

Will you post pictures of your coops and runs focusing on litter management and roosting just to give me ideas for our coop the coop is 1 meter square


Cheers in advance
Josh

 

[aoxa]

My coop is huge, but I do deep litter. I scatter treats under the roost and put the birds to work, tilling the litter around. It decomposes and has this earthy smell. I find it smells less after a few months than it does after a full clean-out and one week of use.

 

[joshremlin]

Brilliant my coop int as big so I dont know what to do with the roost with it just been a metre square but in the coop i might do simular and put pine shavings on the floor and put treets in there to get the chickens workings and clean it out monthly
Cheers
Josh

 

[aoxa]

Brilliant my coop int as big so I dont know what to do with the roost with it just been a metre square but in the coop i might do simular and put pine shavings on the floor and put treets in there to get the chickens workings and clean it out monthly
Cheers
Josh

With deep litter, you only have to clean it out yearly. Just add fresh shavings as it decomposes. If you notice ammonia smell, it's too wet. It should smell like dirt.

I did it in my small coop when I first started as well. Add in leaves and even dry dirt and it will help it to decompose

 

[jtbrown]

I have had chickens going on 2 years now. I have done one complete clean out.

I spot clean (if wind blows rain in and it doesn't dry quickly (rarely), I remove it with shovel and put it in the compost pile. It smells nice to add new shavings every once in a while. Also, mine turns into a very dry powder (easy to scoop and haul in wheel barrow, just like pictured above).

I highly recommend it. It is a several hour job when you do clean it out, but not a full day event (and I have a 12x24 coop).

I wouldn't say the coop smells like roses, but one of the main questions from my friends is "it doesn't smell so bad, how much do you have to clean it?"

 

[joshremlin]

Ill spot clean then and i herd put sand under the shavings it keeps off the smell

Cheers
Josh

 

[donrae]

I'm curious how many birds you're keeping in such a small coop and how much run space you have?

 

[joshremlin]

Three small fowl and a 8 x 8 foot run Approx its slightly bigger tbh and i bought a book and followed that basicaly saying there is plenty of room with a 13 x 13 space im the coop for each bird im in uk and know people including a local collage who keep two birds in like a apex rabbit hutch a run and there happy birds!!

 

[aoxa]

Three small fowl and a 8 x 8 foot run Approx its slightly bigger tbh and i bought a book and followed that basicaly saying there is plenty of room with a 13 x 13 space im the coop for each bird im in uk and know people including a local collage who keep two birds in like a apex rabbit hutch a run and there happy birds!!

That's lots of room. Each bird has 21 square feet of space!

 

[gibsterl]

I use pine shavings too as a deep litter-but also have a poop tray which essentially keeps the litter pretty clean-not sure about putting treats down though in a small coop-mine is 4x8 and they have spilled some feed occasionally. When that happens in my coop they scratch around so much for the spilled feed that alot of the pine shavings end up in the run.